NASHVILLE – Athletes must refuse to compete against transgender girls to ensure sports go back to being fair and reserved for biological women, former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines told Fox News.
«We have to have girls that, when the whistle blows, they don’t run, they don’t swim. They stand on the block and they don’t go,» said Gaines, who swam for the University of Kentucky.
«It is unfortunate, of course, to ask women to make that sacrifice because these are their sports, they should have the right to play,» she added. «They shouldn’t have to give up anything to get change.»
Since tying for fifth with transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas in the NCAA 200m championship last year, Gaines has advocated that women’s sports should be reserved for biological women. But more athletes will be stripped of their titles before enough people stand up and demand change, Gaines said.
RILEY GAINES ON THE FUTURE OF WOMEN’S SPORTS:
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«I think people are really starting to get fed up with this,» Gaines said. «I think initially, maybe two years ago, maybe we thought we could coexist and we could allow trans women into our spaces because we could be inclusive.»
«But now we are seeing, of course, that that doesn’t work,» he added.
At the 2022 NCAA championship, Thomas swam in three final heat races and won the 500-yard freestyle. CeCé Telfer was the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA title, taking gold in the 2019 Division II 400m hurdle. And on Sunday, Austin Killips of the United States became the first transgender cyclist to win an official Union Cycliste Internationale race, the Tour of the Gila.
«I think this is going to get worse before it gets better,» Gaines said. «How many girls have to get hurt playing against a man, how many girls have to lose scholarships, trophies and titles? How many girls have to feel violated in the locker room?»
KATIE PORTER, PIERS MORGAN CLAUSE OVER RILEY GAINES’ EFFORTS TO KEEP WOMEN’S SPORTS FAIR
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines tied for fifth in the 200 Freestyle final at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18, 2022 at Downtown McAuley Aquatics in Atlanta, Georgia. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
In 2019, four Connecticut high school track runners filed a federal discrimination complaint alleging that the participation of transgender athletes to compete in the women’s league deprived them of titles and scholarship opportunities, but the case was dismissed because the transgender students they had graduated. A North Carolina high school volleyball player, Payton McNabb, said last month she suffered a concussion, neck injury and partial paralysis from a ball hit by a transgender athlete on the opposing team, leaving her he sidelined for the remainder of his senior season.
After last year’s NCAA swimming finals, Gaines expressed her discomfort after saying she was exposed to Thomas’ «male genitalia» in the women’s locker room after the meet.
«How many girls have to go through this before they make changes?» Gaines told Fox News. «Because the argument we’re seeing now is, ‘oh, it’s not really happening’ or ‘it’s just high school sports, middle school, it’s not that deep.'»
«Both are insensitive and fake,» he said.
A 2022 study conducted by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that even years of hormone replacement therapy cannot undo all of the physiological advantages that transgender women have over biological women. Some researchers, however, argue that there is no sufficient evidence to demonstrate that there is an advantage after the transition.
Last month, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, a bill that would allow only biological women to compete in women’s sports that receive federal Title IX funding. , but Democrats blocked it in the Senate.
“The MAGA Republicans are trying to sensationalize an issue that doesn’t really exist in the form that they are falsely portraying it,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters.
Gaines rejected the Democrat’s claim.
RILEY GAINES REJECTS LIA THOMAS’ COMMENTS ON FEMINISM: ‘IT JUST SURPRISES ME’
«To say that this does not exist is to deny the facts in front of us,» he said. «This is happening at every level, every state, every sport, every age. My experience is less and less unique every day.»
Gaines, now a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Forum, has become a central figure in the heated political battle over the inclusion of transgender people in women’s sports.
«Obviously this issue has become political, which is unfortunate because sports should never be political,» he said.
She said her goals like stop proposed changes to Title IXThey are intended to protect women’s spaces.
RILEY GAINES ON WHAT FEMINISM MEANS TO HER:
Riley Gaines said that for enough people to stand up and demand that women’s sports be reserved for biological women, more athletes will have to be robbed of titles first. (Fox Digital News)
“This whole movement of gender ideology propaganda is specifically harmful to women and children,” Gaines told Fox News. «I think they’re starting to get fed up. Sure, it’s scary to step on your toes and ruffle your feathers, but that’s exactly what we need to make changes.»
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As more trans athletes compete against women at elite levels, the former NCAA swimmer said she hopes more coaches, parents, medical professionals and athletes will speak up for women.
«In five, 10 years, if this is not fixed, a man who wins a national women’s title will quickly become three, five, 10 and so on,» Gaines told Fox News.
«I think people are starting to realize this,» he added. «I think the tides are starting to turn. I’m hopeful.»
To watch the full video with Gaines, click here.